Bayern Munich set to open up contract talks with Joshua Kimmich

Joshua Kimmich’s current contract at Bayern Munich runs through June 2025, so the club is now entering a crucial phase of what is left on said contact. Now is the time where Bayern wants to try to start thinking about negotiations for a new deal for their #6, and that is exactly what they plan on doing, per information from SportBild’s Tobi Altschäffl and Christian Falk, as well as Bild’s Heiko Niedderrer (via @iMiaSanMia).

Per the trio of expert Bayern journalists, the club is soon set to open talks with Kimmich. They want to do everything they can to get him to agree on a new deal and eliminate the potential risk of losing him as a free agent in the summer of 2025. If he does not have a new deal tied down by January of 2025, he could technically sign a pre-contract with a prospective new club, so the clock is surely ticking for Bayern.

It is said that Kimmich would also represent himself and not use an agent, just as he had done in 2021 when his most recent new deal was signed. Back then, there were not too many roadblocks in the way of getting the deal done and the club was making a statement by giving new deals to both Kimmich and Leon Goretzka right around the same time. They had said that the pair of midfielders were paramount to the future of the club both on and off the pitch, but Kimmich has proven to be the far more consistent performer since then, though Goretzka has been dealing with off and on injury problems.

As of now, the one issue that could potentially arise with Kimmich and a new deal is his salary. He is reportedly earning roughly €20m/year, as he has gotten pay raises incrementally ever since his new deal was signed. Right now, though, Bayern’s hierarchy in the front office is not entirely open to the idea of offering him another salary bump. Harry Kane currently earns a bit more than Kimmich does, and there have been reports suggesting that Kimmich and Thomas Tuchel do not have the best relationship with one another; all variables that could cause roadblocks when a new deal for Kimmich is being negotiated.

Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images

The club still very much wants to keep Kimmich long-term, they will just have to tackle the aforementioned hurdles when they are presented with them. Reports in the summer had suggested Kimmich’s head was slightly turned by interest from Barcelona and a narrative was circulating that former Bayern teammate Robert Lewandowski was really trying to pull some strings behind the scenes to help convince Xavi Hernandez and Kimmich for a move to happen. However, the Poland captain has since said that his contact with Kimmich last season was merely just him talking about Bayern’s situation, and nothing more than that.